A comparative study of maximum power point tracking techniques for a photovoltaic grid-connected system

Abstract

Purpose. In recent years, the photovoltaic systems (PV) become popular due to several advantages among the renewable energy. Tracking maximum power point in PV systems is an important task and represents a challenging issue to increase their efficiency. Many different maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control methods have been proposed to adjust the peak power output and improve the generating efficiency of the PV system connected to the grid. Methods. This paper presents a Beta technique based MPPT controller to effectively track maximum power under all weather conditions. The effectiveness of this algorithm based MPPT is supplemented by a comparative study with incremental conductance (INC), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and fuzzy logic control (FLC). Results Faster MPPT, lower computational burden, and higher efficiency are the key contributions of the Beta based MPPT technique than the other three techniques.